The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
"The Owl and the Pussycat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat I The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five-pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, "O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!" II Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl! How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?" They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-Tree grows And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring at the end of his nose, His nose, His nose, With a ring at the end of his nose. III "Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." So they took it away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon, They danced by the light of the moon. From Nonsense Drolleries (illustrated by William Foster). London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1889. Project Gutenberg, Web, Sep. 21, 2013. History Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds. It was first published during 1871 as part of his book Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets. The term "runcible", used for the phrase "runcible spoon", was invented for the poem. Portions of an unfinished sequel, "The Children of the Owl and the Pussycat", were published first posthumously during 1938. Recognition * Beatrix Potter wrote a prequel, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson, telling the background story of the pig character. * The story has been set to music and animated many times, including by Igor Stravinsky in 1966 using twelve-tone technique (a recording was made under the composer's supervision for Columbia Records), John Rutter, Victor Hely-Hutchinson, Burl Ives, Humphrey Searle in 1951, using twelve-tone technique for the accompanying flute, guitar, and cello, but sprechgesang for the vocal part,Denis Stevens, A History of Song, The Norton Library 536 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1970): 179. ISBN 0393005364. and Laurie Anderson. * Elton Hayes made a recording of the Hely-Hutchinson setting for Parlophone http://www.45cat.com/record/gep8551] Details of the 45 rpm record of Elton Hayes' recordings of Edward Lear songs (accessed 7 October 2011) during 1953. It became a regular item on Children's Favourites and was one of six Edward Lear recordings he made. * It was the main topic of a 1968 children's musical play about Lear's nonsense poems, entitled The Owl and the Pussycat went to See.... The play was written by Sheila Ruskin and David Wood."The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See...", the Ruskin/Wood play (accessed 8 February 2011). * The title was borrowed for an unrelated stage play and subsequent 1970 movie featuring Barbra Streisand and George Segal. * During 1971, a cartoon based on the poem was made by Weston Woods. * In the 1968 Disney animated feature Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, later a part of 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the character Owl mentions a relative of his who supposedly "went to sea in a pea-green boat" with a Pussycat. * The two main characters were the inspiration for X the Owl and Henrietta Pussycat in the "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. * Laurie Anderson composed and recorded a version titled Beautiful Pea Green Boat that appeared on her 1994 album Bright Red. * Eric Idle, a former member of Monty Python's Flying Circus, wrote a children's book entitled The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat which was based on the poem. It is an extended story about when the Owl and the Pussycat were attacked by a band of ruthless rats who were trying to steal pies. It was illustrated by Wesla Weller and was first published during 1996 with an audio version which included some songs by Idle himself. * Between 2001 and 2003, Stewart Lee wrote and performed a show titled Pea Green Boat. The show included an extended story based on the story and including the original poem. A 21 minute version of the show has been made available commercially. * In 2004 the Folk Duo Sandwitch (Buddy Freebury and Andrea Hallier) recorded a musical version of the poem to a tune written by band member Andrea Hallier (now Andrea Freebury) It was included on their third album Crystal Ball. * Sananda Maitreya's sixth album, Angels & Vampires – Volume II, has a track entitled "The Owl and the Pussycat." *In 2013, Julia Donaldson and Charlotte Voake published a sequel to Lear's poem, entitled The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat References External links *The Owl and the Pussy-cat translation collection *Reely's Poetry Pages - audio of The Owl and The Pussycat (Anthology of English Verse, Vol. 1) *Free audiobook from LibriVox *"Pea Green Boat", by comedian Stewart Lee. *[http://storynory.com/2006/02/20/the-owl-and-the-pussycat/ Free audio of the Owl and the Pussycat] by Storynory *mp3 by Dawn Miceli from The Dawn and Drew Show *Tales of Curiosity short video, text and images of The Owl and the Pussy-cat *The Owl and the Pussycat poem with illustration by Mary Ellsworth *Setting of poem as a song by Ronald Corp performed by [[Mark Stone (opera singer)|Mark Stone] and Simon Lepper] Category:1871 poems Category:British children's literature Category:English poems Category:Poetry by Edward Lear Category:Children's poems Category:Text of poem